Wayne Smith Trucking Founder Passes Away

29Apr2017

Wayne Smith, founder of Wayne Smith Trucking in Morrillton, Ark., passed away Friday after a long battle with cancer. Smith served on the board of directors for over two decades and was a founding trustee of ATA's Self-Insurers' Fund, which provides workers compensation to dozens of small trucking companies across the state.

"The world has lost a great man, and many of us have lost a good friend," said Arkansas Trucking Association President Shannon Newton. "Wayne has had a reputation for being honest, hard working and truly passionate about trucking for as long as I've known him. He was the kind of man who gave trucking a good name."

Smith drove his first truck at 14 years old on an orchard in Bakersfield, Calif. Smith's family moved West from Arkansas during the Dust Bowl, and he hauled produce through the produce camps in 1960. Sixteen years later, he began his own trucking company. The venture began in 1976 with two trucks, and today the company has grown to over 100 trucks, not to mention over 500 trailers. The company celebrated its 40th anniversary last year after moving headquarters to Morrilton's growing industrial park.

The American Transportation Research Institute, the trucking industry's not-for-profit research organization, released the results of its Truck Parking Diary research, where commercial drivers provided detailed documentation of their challenges in looking for safe, available truck parking. Participating drivers recorded their parking experiences and issues over 14 days of driving, representing over 4,700 unique parking stops documented in the diaries.

ATA Names New Business Development Coordinator and ATA Support Program

20Mar2017

Arkansas Trucking Association is celebrating its 85th anniversary in 2017. In the new year, the association announced its bi-monthly magazine, Arkansas Trucking Report, would be transitioning publishing operations in-house and naming Amanda Lamb to the business development role to take over the advertising and publishing of the trade periodical. Lamb will also be educating members about ATA's newest opportunity to support the association and its goals.

Lamb comes to ATA with over 10 years of retail and office management experience. As the new business development coordinator, she will manage advertising and sponsorship sales for the association's publications and events as well as inviting members to join The Founders Club, a new program that allows loyal supporters to bundle advertising and sponsorships with exclusive perks.

They See Me Rolling: Drones To Make Deliveries in the Air and on Wheels

20Mar2017

Daimler is helping fund Starship Technologies, a startup created by Skype founders Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, the WSJ reports to help U.K.-based Starship bring rolling drone deliveries to city sidewalks around the world.

Starship’s six-wheeled autonomous drones protect deliveries while regulating temperature during the last mile of their journey to a customer’s doorstep. Designed to stick to the ground as a way to simplify the regulatory process, the devices will face stricter safety vetting when airborne.

Drivers' Health Correlates to Crash Risk

20Mar2017

Commercial truck drivers with three or more medical conditions carry at least double the crash risk for compared to healthier drivers, reports a study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and led by investigators at the University of Utah School of Medicine.

This study’s examination of medical records from 49,464 commercial truck drivers finds evidence that the more health problems a driver has, the more crash risk he or she may carry.

Cut Two Regulations for Every New Rule, Trump Orders

20Mar2017

In a string of executive orders during his first two weeks in office, President Donald Trump signed an order to reduce federal regulations by requiring agencies to cut two existing regulations for every new rule introduced.

"This will be the biggest such act that our country has ever seen. There will be regulation, there will be control, but it will be normalized control," Trump said as he signed the order.

The executive order is designed to control regulation costs by instating a cap that requires the cost of any new regulations to be offset by voiding older rules, a senior White House official told reporters.

Amazon to Relieve Traffic Congestion with Tunnels

The Seattle-based company filed a 33-page patent for a system of conveyor belts and vacuum tubes that move parcels and containers underground achieving increased efficiency, more reliable deliveries and less traffic on the roads as less delivery vehicles would be needed.

Proposed Rulemaking Despite Regulation Freeze

20Mar2017

On January 23, DOT published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to amend its drug-testing program regulation, despite an order from President Trump barring federal agencies from publishing regulations in the Federal Register.

Trump's order prohibits regulations from being published unless a Trump-picked agency chief signs off. It also directed agencies to immediately withdraw any submitted regulations before they can be published.

Cross-Border Trucking Could Be in Jeopardy

As the U.S.’s trade negotiations are under the microscope, a cross-border trucking provision that allows Mexican trucks to carry freight across the U.S.-Mexican border is vulnerable to repeal.

In January 2015, the Department of Transportation announced that Mexican motor carriers could apply for authority to conduct long-haul, cross-border trucking services in the United States, increasing economic and export opportunities between the two countries, and marking a significant milestone in implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. It took more than 20 years after NAFTA went into effect in 1994 for the US to finally allow trucks to move across the border due after a successful pilot program.

Autonomous Vehicle Policy Unveiled

15Nov2016

The White House released its new Federal Automated Vehicles Policy in September to govern the use of autonomous vehicles.

The policy focuses on highly automated vehicles, or HAVs, in which the vehicle can take full control of the driving task in at least some circumstances, and driver-assistance systems already produced by automakers.

ATRI Launches Survey about Medical Exam Process

15Nov2016

The American Transportation Research Institute and Mayo Clinic launched a set of surveys designed to solicit motor carrier and commercial driver input on the impact that the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners has had on the driver medical exam process. The NRCME was deployed in 2014 and since then, medical examiners performing DOT physicals are required to take an approved course, pass an exam and be listed in the registry before issuing medical certificates.

Trucking Students Join 40 Under 40 Council

15Nov2016

On September 27, the Arkansas Trucking Association Board of Directors approved four transportation and logistics students to join the 40 Under 40 Council after the students attended the group’s quarterly meeting on September 8 in Fort Smith, Ark.

The Council was established in 2009 to identify and cultivate new, young executives in member companies and acclimate them to the intricacies of the trucking world as well as the dynamics of the association.